Which AI Assistants Sell Ads? ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, Claude and More

Four AI assistants sell ads today: ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot and Amazon's Rufus. The Gemini app, Meta AI and Grok don't carry ads yet, though each company has talked about it. Perplexity tried ads and stopped, and Anthropic says Claude will stay ad-free.

The question we hear most from agencies is when Gemini will start carrying ads. Google's public answer has moved from "no current plans" to "not ruling them out," with no launch yet.

Which AI assistants have ads?

ChatGPT

ChatGPT has the most developed ad product of any chat assistant. OpenAI's self-serve Ads Manager opened in May 2026 and now serves advertisers in 63 countries, with no minimum commitment. You buy on CPM, CPC or conversion-optimized bidding, and ads appear below answers for people on the Free and Go plans.

In September OpenAI began testing Sponsored Agents with select US advertisers: after clicking an ad, people can talk to the business's own agent before visiting its site. Our cost guide covers pricing in detail, and our buyer's guide covers setup.

Google: AI Overviews, AI Mode and the Gemini app

Google sells ads inside its AI answers in Search, but not in the Gemini app. There is no separate campaign type. In AI Overviews, "text and Shopping ads from existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are eligible," in English, in 12 countries including the US, Canada, India and Australia, according to Google. You can't opt out, and reporting doesn't separate these ads from the rest of the campaign.

AI Mode takes ads from Performance Max, Shopping, AI Max for Search and broad-match Search with Smart Bidding. In September Google began testing exact and phrase match there, limited to queries with "explicit and direct user intent."

The Gemini app is a different story. In December 2025, Google's VP of global ads, Dan Taylor, said "there are no ads in the Gemini app and there are no current plans to change that." By March 2026, Nick Fox, Google's SVP of knowledge and information, told WIRED the company was "not ruling out ads on Gemini," and expected lessons from AI Mode ads to "carry over" to the app.

Microsoft Copilot

Copilot ads come from Microsoft Advertising campaigns you already run. Multimedia ads, Product ads from Shopping and Performance Max, and Search ads with a logo are all eligible, and Microsoft opts them in automatically: "Advertisers cannot opt out of serving ads, and there's no guarantee that their ads will be displayed in Copilot." Ads are chosen on the context of the whole conversation, not only the last prompt, and Microsoft recommends Performance Max for the most exposure.

Amazon Rufus

Amazon's shopping assistant carries ads through Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands prompts, generally available in the US since March 25, 2026. Campaigns are enrolled automatically and billed per click; a prompt "may open a dialog in Rufus" when a shopper clicks it.

Meta AI and Grok: not yet

Meta doesn't show ads inside Meta AI chats, but it uses them for targeting elsewhere. Since December 16, 2025, Meta says it uses "your interactions with AI at Meta to personalize the content and ads you see" on its other apps.

Elon Musk told advertisers in August 2025 that X plans to put ads in Grok's answers, because "if a user's trying to solve a problem, then advertising the specific solution would be ideal at that point." There is no sign that ads have launched.

Perplexity and Claude: no ads

Perplexity launched sponsored follow-up questions in 2024, then phased the program out. An executive explained the decision to the Financial Times: "A user needs to believe this is the best possible answer, to keep using the product and be willing to pay for it."

Anthropic has made the opposite of an ad product a public commitment. "Claude will remain ad-free," it wrote in February 2026. "There are many good places for advertising. A conversation with Claude is not one of them."

Beyond the big assistants

Many smaller AI apps, from chatbots and AI search tools to the assistants built into other products, sell ads through AI ad networks rather than ads managers of their own. Buyers reach that inventory programmatically, next to or instead of the large platforms.

Thrad runs ads across AI apps with one budget and one report.